Environment Protection Authority
Maintenance of remediation notice
Sections 28 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 |
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REGISTERED MAIL
Sydney Olympic Park Authority
7 Figtree Drive
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK NSW 2127
Attention: Mr David Young, General Manager Operations & Sustainability
Notice Number: 28040
This notice is issued under section 28 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 (“the Act”).
Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA), “the recipient”, must maintain remediation action in accordance with the requirements set out in this notice.
1. Land to which this notice applies (“the land”)
This notice applies to the following waste containment areas within the Sydney Olympic Park:
Aquatic Centre Carpark Landfill; Bicentennial Park Landfill; Blaxland Common Landfill; Golf Driving Range Landfill; Kronos Hill Landfill; Woo-La-Ra Landfill and Wilson Park Bioremediation.
Their locations and boundaries are defined in the attached map. This map is referenced as 001-G-G-0112 Rev. B and is contained in a SOPA document entitled “Remediated Lands Management Plan January 2009 ”.
2. Background
The Sydney Olympic Park (“the SOP”) was the venue of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. It is located at Homebush Bay ─ a large piece of land that had been used for uncontrolled landfilling for many years before it was redeveloped as the major Games venue. This resulted in wide spread contamination of the area. Assessment of the contamination in the areas began in the late 1980’s and site remediation began in the early 1990’s.
With the exception of the remediation of Wilson Park, the remediation strategy was to consolidate and re-contain the waste into several areas within the SOP. In the process, the majority of the SOP area had the buried waste removed and was subsequently redeveloped for the Games. The excavated waste was transferred to the designated waste containment areas. These areas, which include but are not limited to the land of which this notice applies, were capped, landscaped and turned into parkland. Leachate collection and transfer systems were also built to prevent leachate from escaping.
Wilson Park was a former Gasworks site. The nature of the contamination is waste liquid tar rather than uncontrolled landfilling. However, the remediation strategy adopted is also “cap-and-contain” similar to the remediation of the landfilling areas within the SOP.
The remediation of the waste containment areas of which this notice applies occurred at different timelines. Therefore, these waste containment areas were regulated by the Environment Protection Authority (“EPA”) on an individual basis. The regulatory instruments include notices issued under section 35 of the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act, voluntary remediation agreement under section 23 of the Act and notices under section 28 of the Act depending on the stage of the remediation at the time the regulatory instruments were issued. The EPA however has envisioned that these regulatory instruments will eventually be converted into a single maintenance of remediation notice under section 28 of the Act.
In March 2007, SOPA provided the EPA with a draft document entitled Remediated Landfill Systems – Operational Management Plan. This represents SOPA’s attempt to deal with the post-remediation management of the waste containment areas in a holistic way.
This document was subsequently revised and renamed to “Remediated Lands Management Plan ”. The revised document is supplemented with environmental monitoring data collected between years 2002 – 2007. The EPA is generally satisfied with the monitoring results, which suggest that the waste containment areas pose no unacceptable impact on their surrounding environment. The EPA however considers that additional environmental groundwater monitoring points will be required for some of the waste containment areas.
3. Commencement of this notice
This notice takes effect from the date of this notice and continues in force as varied from time to time, until it is revoked.
4. Maintenance and reporting requirements
Implementing the Remediated Lands Management Plan
A. The recipient must manage the post-remediation of the land in accordance with the SOPA document entitled “Remediated Lands Management Plan January 2009” or its subsequent revisions that have been accepted by the EPA (“the RLMP”). In particular, the recipient must carry out the environmental monitoring program in accordance with Section 11 of the RLMP under the heading “Environmental Monitoring, Performance Assessment and Report”.
Additional environmental groundwater monitoring points that may be required
B. Within 12 months of the date of this notice, the recipient must provide the EPA with a report justifying the groundwater monitoring strategy at Blaxland Common landfill and Kronos Hill landfill, including any additional groundwater monitoring points that have been or will be installed.
Reporting to the EPA
C. The recipient must prepare a report once every two years. The report must include but is not necessarily limited to:
1) The reporting of the operational performance of the waste containment systems in the preceding two years;
2) The sampling and laboratory results of the monitoring program listed in Table 11.1 of the RLMP; and
3) The interpretation of the sampling and laboratory results with respect to the performance of the waste containment systems.
D. The report must be reviewed by a site auditor accredited under the Act in relation to the performance of waste containment systems.
E. The first report and the auditor’s review of the report must be provided to the EPA within 24 months from the date of this notice.
F. The subsequent reports and the auditor’s review of the reports must be submitted to the EPA in a frequency of once every two years until such time that the EPA varies the frequency of the submission.
5. Notification of change of owner/occupier
At least 30 days prior to the recipient ceasing to be the owner or occupier of the land to which this notice applies the recipient must give written notification to the EPA of the name and contact details of the prospective owner or occupier.
[Signed]
Manager Contaminated Sites
Date: 23 January 2009
NOTE:
A person who fails to comply with a notice issued under section 28 of the Act is guilty of an offence. Heavy penalties may be imposed where a person fails to comply with directions given in a notice issued under section 28 of the Act.
Information recorded by the EPA
Section 58 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 and clause 6 of the Contaminated Land Regulation requires the EPA to maintain a public record. A copy of this notice will be included in the public record.
